The link above is an example of a student who has learned the six syllable types, and can read fluently. The student is on Step 9 (out of 12 steps in the program) and demonstrates his accuracy and fluency. In the video, he is tracking and attending to the phrasing and punctuation of the text.

“Students master comprehension as a musician masters a symphony –one stanza at a time.”

Core Idea:

“Independent reading is the scrimmage that prepares students for the “big game” of reading. That big game happens later —when no one is keeping score.”

Core Idea:

“Students can’t fall in love with reading if they aren’t reading to begin with.”

PEOPLE ASK ALL THE TIME–WHAT ARE LEXILES AND WHAT ARE BENCHMARKS?

HERE’S A REALLY GOOD WAY TO EXPLAIN IT:

Lexiles & Benchmark Levels—How do they compare?

Answer from The Fountas & Pinnell Team:

While there will always be different approaches in determining a texts level of complexity, this comparison assumes there is a direct and reliable relationship between Lexile Levels and Fountas & Pinnell Levels.

Lexile takes one approach by measuring text complexity in a simpler way — sentence length, syllables, and word frequency.

Fountas and Pinnell take another approach. The Fountas & Pinnell Levels are determined by also evaluating concepts, need for background knowledge, and plot. A student might very well be able to decode texts at several levels higher and so, measured without comprehension assessment, it may look like he is meeting standard.

There may be a statistical correlation between Lexile levels and the Fountas & Pinnell Levels on the F&P Text Level Gradient™.

For example, if you run measures on thousands of books and over many levels, there would be a correlation.

We have not performed these analyses ourselves.

The lower Fountas & Pinnell Levels, in general, would have lower Lexile scores. The higher Fountas & Pinnell Levels generally would have higher scores. But this kind of correlation is not the same as a precise matching of levels, for example, a Lexile range of numbers corresponds to a specific A to Z level in a reliable way. The two systems are based on some of the same text factors, but not all.

Metametrics uses a mathematical formula, which they can explain.

The Fountas & Pinnell Levels are based on the ten text characteristics named in several of Fountas and Pinnell’s books. A group of raters reach reliability after independent analysis.

We cannot say with high prediction that a given book with a certain Lexile score will fall into a category on the F&P Text Level Gradient™. Every time we have looked at Lexile levels for texts that seem highly reliable on our scale, we have found a number of “outliers.”
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The Fountas & Pinnell Team